Of course, he wasn’t all that well. His insides felt raw and sore. He was far weaker than he’d imagined he’d be or he would have given Skyler blood. They both needed the safe haven she’d spoken of, a place to heal and be alone.
Gabriel and Lucian stood shoulder to shoulder some distance from where Skyler and Dimitri had rested in the ground. They seemed to be studying the western side of the forest carefully, but the moment the couple surfaced, they swung around, sensing their presence.
Gabriel immediately strode toward them, Lucian a step behind. Skyler started to run to her father, but it was impossible, she was too weak. She had to stand, waiting, Dimitri’s arms holding her upright, for her father to reach her.
The moment he did, Skyler went into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Gabriel,” she whispered. “I would never have put you and Francesca through such an ordeal if I felt I had any other choice.”
Dimitri found her choice of words intriguing. He found himself admiring her all the more. He knew she was genuinely sorry for what her parents had gone through, thinking she was dead, but she was also taking a stand, signaling to her father that she was grown up and making her own decisions.
Gabriel’s hard hold on her had to hurt, but she didn’t wince or try to pull away. Her father kissed the top of her head. “We thought you were dead, Skyler. All of us. Everyone. Finding you alive is a miracle.”
Lucian removed her gently from her father’s grasp. “You scared the hell out of us, girl,” he reprimanded. “Meaning no one can possibly get angry with you now that you’re alive.”
Skyler hugged her uncle. “That’s a relief. I was worried I might be locked in my room for a millennium.”
“Gabriel couldn’t lock you in your room for an hour let alone a millennium,” Lucian pointed out.
Even as her uncle teased her, the legendary warriors had their gaze on Dimitri. He didn’t flinch. He’d never been a man to be intimidated, but he suddenly wished he was in a little better shape. He felt Fen come up on his right side. Big brother playing the badass. Fen could look intimidating when he wanted, and right now he was staring the twins down.
Skyler extracted herself from Lucian’s arms and leaned into Dimitri, deliberately, he was certain. She kept her smile as she wrapped on arm around Dimitri’s waist. He felt the slight trembling in her body.
“I asked Dimitri to claim me before I rescued him. I was afraid if I wasn’t successful, he would die. I would have chosen to follow him and I would have been terrified without our souls being bound together.” She looked her father in the eye when she told him.
Gabriel began to shake his head as she spoke.
Lucian put a hand on his shoulder. “It is done, brother. There is nothing to be done for it now. She’s taken the matter out of all of our hands.”
“He could have refused her.” There was a warning in Gabriel’s tone.
“Would you refuse your lifemate?” Lucian asked softly. “She was right to do as she did. Dimitri was in trouble and she went to him. She’s his true lifemate, there’s no denying it.”
“There was every chance I wouldn’t get to him in time,” Skyler said. She reached out a hand to her father. “I can’t live without him. You know what that’s like. If something happened to Francesca . . .”
Gabriel shook his head again. “Don’t say it. Don’t think it.”
“Daddy,” Skyler said, for the first time sounding like a lost child. “I had no choice. You have to see that and understand.”
Dimitri stirred, every protective instinct rising fast. His heart actually ached for her. Skyler needed reassurance from Gabriel. She had done the right thing. All of them knew it, but her father didn’t want to concede that she was old enough to make her own decisions. He didn’t want to let the child go and acknowledge that she was a woman.
Dimitri gathered her closer into his arms, sheltering her body against his. Going openly against Gabriel ran the danger of putting Skyler in the position of defending her father. Still . . . he wasn’t about to allow anyone, even her father, to make her feel so terrible and guilty. Skyler had chosen to save her lifemate. She had been mortally wounded in the process and had undergone the conversion. She desperately needed her father to understand.
“No one else could find him,” Fen said before Dimitri could speak. “Not even me. Whatever they have together is something very special.”
It took a great deal of discipline for Dimitri to stand there silently and allow others to plead their case to Gabriel. He respected the legendary warrior, but he wasn’t afraid of him, and he didn’t feel he owed him an explanation. More, he wanted to lash out and tell the man to see Skyler for who she was, not the frightened child Gabriel had taken in, loved and nurtured.
The walls around them suddenly shimmered, nearly folding in themselves. The ground shivered under their feet and above them, the ceiling seemed to fall and then recoil back into place.
“We don’t have much time,” Tatijana said. “We have to leave tonight—soon.”
Don’t leave your daughter hurting when you know she did the right thing,
Lucian advised his brother.
You should be proud of her. She did what no other could do.
She’s my baby. Our baby. Francesca’s and mine. Our first. You know what her life was like.
There was true pain in Gabriel’s voice.
First I give Francesca the news that she lives, and I promised to bring her home, and now I must tell her she’s gone for all time. We had so little time with her. I feel cheated.
You feel fear for her. You cannot control her world or keep her out of harm’s way. That’s your fear, Gabriel. Every father must face it. Look at Dimitri. Really see him. You haven’t even looked at him. What he went through—for her. To stay alive for her. What other man would suffer such a thing?
For the first time, Gabriel allowed himself to look at his son-in-law. His kin. Dimitri’s forehead and neck had the links of chains burned into his skin, nearly to the bone. He could see one layer that had been wrapped around the forehead and three loops around his neck.
His entire body bears these marks. Tatijana and Fen told me that inside his body, every organ and bone was burned as well. He was starved for over two weeks—hung on meat hooks and swung from a tree. He stayed alive—for her. She would have followed him and he knew it,
Lucian persisted.
This is an ancient hunter of exceptional skill. All know his reputation. Now you see not only his strength and determination, but his love for your daughter forever burned into his body for all to see.
Gabriel brushed his hand over his face. He shook his head. He knew he was being unreasonable. Skyler was in good hands. Dimitri obviously loved her, it was there on his face. He might not be ready for Skyler to grow up, but somewhere along the line she’d done so, maturing into her own woman, gaining confidence and making her own decisions. He couldn’t fault her for that. He knew, as a parent, it was the very thing he wanted for her.
He stepped up to the couple and clasped Dimitri’s forearms, Skyler in between them. “Welcome, son. And thank you for saving her life. Few could have accomplished such a thing. Her spirit was so far from us, neither her mother nor I could find her.”
Gabriel looked down at his daughter. “You made us very proud, Skyler. No one would ever have conceived that you, Paul and Josef could accomplish what all of us failed to do. Mikhail sent out search parties, but no one was able to find a hint of the trail.”
Skyler circled his waist with her arms and laid her head on her father’s chest, the tension slowly draining away. “I’m grateful you understand that I had to find him.”
Gabriel kissed the top of her head. “I do.” He glanced over his shoulder at the silent couple standing behind him. “I think there are others who wish to greet you and make certain you’re alive and safe. They’ve gone hunting this morning and can provide both of you with blood.”
Behind him, Skyler’s birth father Razvan stood tall and straight. He’d been the most hated man besides his grandfather Xavier, before it came out that he was imprisoned as well and Xavier had used his body to commit unspeakable crimes. He was her father, yet he didn’t know her. Razvan’s blood, both Dragonseeker and mage, ran in her veins.
Skyler had inherited her concentrated power from this man. The woman beside him was Ivory, his lifemate, keeper of wolves. She stood beside Razvan, close to him, yet able to move easily and quickly should there be need to fight. Her wolves traveled like tattoos on her body, watching her back, and now half the pack guarded Razvan as well.
The two were considered skilled, dangerous fighters. They rarely were around other Carpathians, but hunted vampires relentlessly.
Skyler’s hands tightened around Dimitri’s. She’d always pushed aside this part of her life, unwilling to face it, subconsciously viewing Razvan as a participant in the evil Xavier had done. She’d been sold to a man, both her mother and she, by the high mage. That man had sold her to others for money.
“You don’t have to,” Dimitri said.
“No.” She lifted her chin. “I do.”
14
“I
t is best if we sit.” Dimitri took charge. Skyler was swaying with weariness. He needed to sit as well. Both needed blood. “But Skyler wishes to greet her birth father.”
Gabriel and Lucian stepped away to give Razvan and Ivory privacy, such as could be had in the close quarters of the transparent shelter.
Razvan crouched down in front of his daughter where Dimitri had helped her to sit in the grass. Ivory placed her hand firmly on his shoulder in support of whatever might happen.
“I was afraid the world had lost you,” Razvan greeted.
“You came,” Skyler said. “Even though we have barely talked, you still came.”
“You are my daughter. I may not have had the pleasure of raising you, but you will always be my flesh and blood. No one will ever harm you and escape our punishment. We would hunt them to the ends of the earth.”
Dimitri smiled up at Ivory in greeting. “Skyler has Razvan’s fierce nature. She was quite willing to take on all the Lycans after seeing what they did to me.”
The tension drained from Ivory’s body and she smiled back at him. “We’ve come bearing a gift for you, for both of you, if you would accept it.”
“Just coming is gift enough,” Skyler said. She pushed back a few strands of hair that had escaped the thick braid. Her hand trembled.
“You need to feed,” Razvan said. “Both of you.”
“I’m not certain I can do it by myself yet,” Skyler admitted, looking back at Dimitri.
“There’s no need,” Ivory said. “Razvan can aid you, and I’ll give Dimitri blood. Later, the others can as well. At the moment, the De La Cruz brothers are hunting. They should be back very soon.”
At Dimitri’s alarmed look she smiled. “Discreetly. They said they’d be discreet.” She extended her wrist toward Dimitri. “I offer freely.”
Razvan didn’t hesitate. He waved his hand toward Skyler to calm her, to distance her from what would take place. It would allow her to take his blood without real knowledge so she could take what she needed to survive. She had plenty of time to get used to taking her own food, but for now, to expedite her healing, it would be better to just allow her to feed without distress.
Skyler knew the moment Razvan’s mind reached for hers and tried to take control. She’d always known when Josef or her parents had done so. She knew she needed to allow him to do so, to give her consent. Before, she never would have trusted someone mage born, not after what had happened to her, but this man had held out against impossible odds and he hadn’t turned vampire or succumbed to the terrible temptation of power his grandfather had dangled in front of him. He had endured endless torture and had accepted the hatred of everyone who knew him with stoic resolve.
He was much like her beloved Dimitri. He didn’t ask for understanding or plead his case. He simply accepted and walked away if shunned, but he would fight fiercely for those he loved. He was loyal and courageous and he could always be counted on.
She looked at the man who was her birth father for the first time through accepting eyes. She let go and allowed him entry into her mind. His touch was gentle, and it was over in an instant—she blinked and found herself stronger.
Dimitri had already politely closed the small wound on Ivory’s wrist, giving her a slight bow from the waist, although they were seated in the grass.
“Thank you both,” Dimitri said. “Your blood will aid in our healing.”
Razvan smiled at the couple. “We did bring you a present of sorts, a gift to celebrate your becoming lifemates. We knew the moment we became aware Skyler still lived,” he added by way of explanation. “Although, of course, it is a responsibility and therefore must be your choice to refuse or accept with no ill will on our part.”
Dimitri and Skyler exchanged a long glance. Skyler’s heart began to pound with excitement. Ivory and Razvan were considered eccentrics among the Carpathian people. More than anything, they loved wolves and ran with their own pack—not wholly animal and certainly not Lycan. These were wolves Ivory had accidently turned Carpathian. Such a thing was forbidden of course, but she’d taken responsibility for them and kept them in line.
Dimitri had spent centuries protecting wolves in the wild, advocating for them and providing land for them to hunt and live without fear of humans killing them. He had done so in the beginning to provide a sanctuary for his brother when he was injured in battle, but over the years, he’d purchased lands in various countries to provide safe preserves.
Ivory and Razvan would know how hard Dimitri fought for the wolves in the wild and they would know of all her studies, gearing her to aid him in his chosen fight. She held her breath, her eyes shining, she was sure, with her excitement. She just
knew
.
“We brought wolf pups. They were born nearly two years ago and are not from our pack. Our wolf pack found them, the adults had been torn apart, leaving the pups to starve. They were weak and we . . .” Ivory broke off and looked to Razvan for help.